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September 25, 1998 is not a particularly interesting day in world or national history, and whether it was in San Diego history probably won't be answered unless elected officials have to go before grand juries- as is the only way to find out if anything interesting happened in San Diego.
Unfortunately, its significance to movie fans in San Diego wouldn't be realized until much later.
September 25, 1998 is the day the era of the roadshow movie theater ended in San Diego with the closure of the Cinema 21.
I mark the era of the roadshow theater with the opening of the Cinerama on November 20, 1962. The opening of such a theater occupies a special place in the history of movie theaters in San Diego because it was the first movie theater designed specifically for widescreen movies. Other theaters in San Diego were equipped for widescreen movies and did wonderfully well in the presentation, but the Cinerama marked the debut of a new kind of theater. One that was designed for films made in that immediate frame of time (1960s and on).
Following the opening of the Cinerama, San Diego was soon to debut several more theaters designed in this mold: the Center, The Cinema 21, the Cinema Grossmont, the Fine Arts theater in Pacific Beach, and the Valley Circle- all built within four years. They were big and designed for movies. They were not converted stages or meat packing houses- they were movie theaters for big movies. Their designs reflected the fascination with the ideal of the future, or the 1960s idea of the future with its subdued curves and sharp angles occasionally found in their facades.
They started the domination of one's frame of mind with the first glimpse in the parking lot (Always "acres of free parking" said the ads) and held that power until the patrons drove away. These theaters were not buildings; they were monuments to things like 70mm presentation, six-channel sound, reserved seat engagements, and films with intermissions. Seeing a movie in one of them was like traveling in time to what the space age should have been.
Eventually, they left.
Multiplexes and the necessity of front-loaded earning on the first weekends of a films life killed them. Not to mention some of the physical realities associated with building anything in San Diego. The Cinerama was sinking into the ground. The Cinema 21 spent a lot of time closed for repair due to flooding. The Valley Circle occupied valuable real estate.
The Center was turned into a three-plex in 1971. The Cinerama was closed and demolished for a strip mall. The Cinema Grossmont became retail space. The Valley Circle was also demolished for a strip mall. The Cinema 21 was demolished for ugly apartments.
Now they're memories. Great memories for those that have them. But San Diego kills its memories- better to confuse and foil investigations by federal attorneys.
The Cinema 21 held on the longest with 35 years of operation as a movie theater. In its last year of life, it touched the memory of the golden years with its robust run of Titanic. 21 weeks. One of the life boats exhibited in front. Lines that didn't end for months. Glorious days.
Its parent company, Mann Theaters, quietly killed it. There was no fanfare or special screenings for the faithful. No press release. It allowed the last screening of Blade to spool out and then never showed another movie after September 24, 1998. The next day- the Cinema 21 had gone dark.
The Cinema 21 had many critics of its exterior, but any movie that played within its walls felt massive and many were. The Godfather played 39 weeks (273 days) followed by Paint Your Wagon at 39 weeks (272 days). And then there were engagements of The Sand Pebbles (great Steve McQueen) and The Lion in Winter that lasted for months and months and never seemed to end. Later, San Diegans would flock to the Cinema 21 for 70mm screenings of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Superman. In its last years, it took on the role played by the Fox in the 1930 to 1950s, where it was the best place in San Diego to see the latest Disney cartoons like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.
The robust economy of the late 1990s would spell the doom of the Cinema 21. Little minds obsessed with squeezing every dollar out of redevelopment in San Diego would decimate anything not considered "historical." Old, solid buildings would be torn down for new abominations designed for quick fix tax revenue. Another city would have seen one of those enriched by the prosperity of the times ride to the rescue with money for remodelling and revitalization. But this isn't that city.
The Cinema 21 lasted a few more years as it was occupied by a church. And then a sporting goods store. In 2002, it was demolished.
With it, a unique era of exhibition died in San Diego. There are still a few places where you can glimpse what I'm talking about. New York and Los Angeles, of course(Steven Soderbergh's Che is expected to have a "roadshow" existence in both cities this December). Seattle at its Cinerama theater. It's a memory for the rest of the country.
And that's why I'm here.
I'm waiting for that imaginary investor, enriched by the prosperity of the times (okay, maybe not these times), to rescue one of the remaing shells of the roadshow era (the Center or the Cinema Grossmont, or that beauty, the Loma). Give it that necessary shot of cash needed to make us all remember how much fun it was going to a movie, how going to a movie isn't just watching a bigger TV, how you can be captured for a few hours by lights and sounds that dominate all senses.
How the popcorn was good...
The San Diego Cinerama, remembering a time, when going to the movies, didn't suck.
 
The Exterior.
The Box Office. These last three taken from a fine site: http://www.silverscreens.com/en_sd.html
The Interior. The Cinema 21 was reported in a few places as being capable of Cinerama presentation. Given the lack of projection booths in this picture, I think we can lay that idea to rest.
Photo from Motion Picture Herald. 22 May 1968.
San Diego Union. B1, B6 24 October 1998.
4:13 PM
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